Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

For roughly 76 million American households, federal income taxes could eventually disappear—if a proposal by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ever becomes reality.

The Blue Origin owner argued the bottom half of U.S. earners should pay no income tax, saying working Americans shouldn’t be placed under increased financial pressure, considering they contribute a relatively small share of total tax revenue anyway.

“The bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes,” Bezos told CNBC .

“I think it should be zero.” To make his case, Bezos used a hypothetical health care worker as an example: “Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes?” Bezos added: “To me, it’s kind of absurd that we’re doing this.

We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington.

They should be sending her an apology.

It really makes no sense.” While Bezos did not elaborate on his exact calculations, but workers in the U.S. are generally required to pay federal income, Social Security, Medicare—and in most states, state income—taxes.

Combined, it can stretch into the thousands of dollars.

Because the U.S. tax system is progressive, higher earners generally pay a larger share of their income in federal taxes.

In 2023, the bottom half of taxpayers (those making roughly under $54,000) accounted for roughly 12% of total adjusted gross income—but they paid just 3% of all federal income taxes, according to IRS data analyzed by the Tax Foundation .

The average household in that group paid about $913 a year in federal income tax.

However, when refundable tax credits are factored in, the bottom 40% of taxpayers already pay effectively no federal income tax on average, CNBC reported.

Bezos, who has maintained a warm relationship with President Donald Trump , said he plans to advocate for the idea with political leaders, arguing exempting lower earners from federal income taxes would represent only “a small amount of money for the government.” “It is part of our job as citizens and as business leaders to share our ideas,” Bezos said.

“And this one would actually help people.” Bezos—with a net worth of $280 billion—says even if his tax bill was doubled, it wouldn’t help Bezos’s concern for affordability may come as a surprise considering his estimated net worth north of $280 billion—among the top five of any person in the world.